Yorkville bans smoking in city parks

There will be no more lighting up in Yorkville city parks after the City Council this week voted in favor of a smoking ban.

Members of the Yorkville High School Teens Reaching Youth group gave a presentation to the aldermen prior to the vote urging the passage of the ban. The group had previously presented information to the city's Park Board, which has supported the anti-smoking measure.

The ban would prohibit smoking in areas including parks, "athletic fields, bleachers, hardcourt play surfaces, playgrounds and shelters, unless specifically exempted by the Park Board and/or director, such as for special events or the adult softball league," said Tim Evans, director of parks and recreation.

Aldermen voted 7-1 in favor of the smoking ban, with Ken Koch voting against it.

Koch had argued that the city should not have exceptions to the ban for events.

"If you're going to have a law, I think you've got to have it across the board," he said.

Prior to the vote, Sarah Macko, the high school group's co-sponsor, and Jason Andrade, of the Kendall County Health Department, discussed the group's project, which was part of an Illinois Department of Public Health teen anti-tobacco campaign called REALITY Illinois.

Andrade said the teens worked on the project all of last year and part of this year.

Macko said the goal of the Illinois campaign is "to change teens' attitudes toward tobacco, directly influence policy and reduce teen tobacco use in Illinois."

"We thought this was very important for the teens to take the lead on," she said. "It gives them a chance to develop some leadership skills and really fight for something that affects them directly in our community."

Students presented data from a community survey, which included responses from 158 residents. The students said communities including Northbrook, Wheaton and Gurnee have such bans in their parks.

In the survey, 71 percent of respondents said they "strongly" agreed with a smoking ban in city parks, and 81 percent said they were bothered by tobacco products' litter.

Michalene Bell, who lives in Yorkville with her husband, Ethan, and her four kids, frequents the city's parks, including Riverfront Park. She said Thursday the new ban should help with cigarette litter.

"We do find cigarette butts, which is gross," she said. "Even if you're walking your dog in the park and they eat that, they can make your dog very sick."

Bell said people shouldn't smoke in areas like parks that are commonly visited by children.

"Smoking is one of those things where, if you want to do it, that's fine, but just do it where it affects you," she said. "I don't take away anyone's right to smoke, but at the same time, if you're in an area where there's going to be children, you don't know if they have asthma or allergies. I don't think it's a very wise decision to bring that stuff around children because it's toxic."

"I can see bans if there are structures, maybe, for safety reasons, because you know people never put their (cigarette) butts in the designated places," she said. "I guess it maybe supports a healthy lifestyle stance by the parks and rec department, so that part makes sense. Frankly, I didn't know it was a problem that needed to be banned."

However, Weeks said the ban makes sense if it helps decrease littering in the parks.

"It sucks that it takes a smoking ban to get people to stop littering," she said.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 13, 2015, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Yorkville bans smoking in parks - High school student group pushed to have council pass measure" —
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